General Tso's chicken

First time I had this Chicken dish was when I went to visit my sis in Houston, we had gone to this chinese place for a buffet and if I am honest I have never ever seen such a huge buffet, they had so many variety of dishes, I didn't know were to start.

My sister did warn me, that the place will have a lot of dishes but I didn't expect to see so many.

Actually I didn't know what to eat, so I temeber eating loads of those baby fried crabs then some other dishes but I also took this chicken dish as it was written that it is a spicy dish.

So as usual I try to recreate the dish at home as I know Hans and Shyama will love it too.

So I went hunting for recipes on the net and this is what I ended up making using a mix of recipes, taking a bit from one, then a littil bit from another recipe etc....

It is such a yumm dish and not that difficult to make them too.





General Tso's chicken (sometimes Governor Tso's chicken, General Gau's chicken, General Tao's chicken, General Tsao's chicken, General Tang's chicken or simply General's Chicken) is a sweet, slightly spicy, deep-fried chicken dish that is popularly served in North American Chinese restaurants.

The dish was unknown in China and other lands home to the Chinese diaspora before it was introduced by chefs returning from the United States.

 The dish is named after General Tso Tsung-tang, or Zuo Zongtang, a Qing dynasty general and statesman, although the connection is tenuous. He is said to have enjoyed it, and perhaps helped create a dish, but there are no recorded recipes.

The food has been associated with the name of Zuo Zongtang (左宗棠, 1812–1885), a Qing Dynasty general from Hunan.

Zuo himself could not have eaten the dish as it is today, and the dish is neither found in Changsha, the capital of Hunan, nor in Xiangyin, the home of General Tso. Moreover, descendants of General Tso still living in Xiangyin, when interviewed, say that they have never heard of such a dish.

There are several stories concerning the origin of the dish. Eileen Yin-Fei Lo states in her book The Chinese Kitchen that the dish originates from a simple Hunan chicken dish, and that the reference to "Zongtang" was not a reference to Zuo Zongtang's given name, but rather a reference to the homonym "zongtang", meaning "ancestral meeting hall."

Consistent with this interpretation, the dish name is sometimes (but considerably less commonly) found in Chinese as "Zuo ancestral hall chicken

General Tso's Chicken.

Marination.

600 gm Chicken breast cut in bite size pieces

2 tablespoon Soy Sauce

1 egg

2 heap table spoon of corn flour

1 tsp pepper powder

Mix above ingridients in a bowl and set aside foe half hour.

For the Sauce:

350 ml of chicken stock ( We love the sauce and if you want a drier dish add less stock)

2 tbsp of rice vinegar

3 tablespoon tomato paste

2 table spoon of soy sauce

1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce ( if you dodn''t have you can use normal soysauce)

1 tablespoon of Hoisin Sauce

1 heap tablespoon of Sriracha

Mix all the ingridients in a bowl and keep aside.

2 to 3 tablespoon of corn flour mixed with a little water.

1 medium size onion chopped

2 spring onion chopped

1 tablespoon fresh ginger finley chopped

1 tablespoon garlic finley chopped

5 to 6 fresh chillies chopped

1 tablespoon of seasame oil

Oil for deepfrying the chicken, ( Use the oil according how big pan / wok you are using to deep fry the chicken.

2 tablespoon of vegetable oil

Spring onions for garnish.

Heat the oil in a wok for deep frying. When the oil is hot, deep fry the marinated chicken pieces in two batches till they are golden brown , drain to a Kitchen paper and keep it aside.

Heat another wok ( or clean the wok you used for deep frying and then use the same wok) .

Add the 2 tbsp of oil , when the oil is hot add the onions,spring onions,ginger,garlic and chillie and fry for few minutes till they are soft.

Now Pour the Sauce Mix and bring it to boil, boil for few 3 to 4 minutes, add the fried chicken pieces, and thicken up the whole dish with the corn flour mix.

Don't add the whol corn flour mix at once, add three quaters and if the thickness is good then dodn't add the rest. You have to make the chicken dish thick according to your liking.

After adding the corn flour mix, cook for 2 minutes and serve with rice or noodles.
I do have step by step pics but i can't add pics to my blog, the pictures I added was with my flickr account. So will upload the pics later.

 

The Softest Challah

I thought as I love baking bread, why not do a bread post for starting the New year of Blogging.
Wishing all my friends and lovely blog readers A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hope every one had a wonderful start of the new year.

We any way started with a bang. Went to my inlaws place for New years eve party which was so fun and the food was so delicious too. A good way to start the year I think with good good and drinks and lot of laughter.

I made this Challah in December thankx to my elder sister.

One day she excitedly rang me and told me what she is making in her kitchen and then after a while she rang me and saif the challah is kept for rising.

Then she phoned again very happy to tell me how good they are looking and next day she rang me to say how DELICIOUS they were and that she was busy making two more challah to give to her friends and she was so much in praise of the recipe, and the only thing I heard for next few days from her is how the bread is so good and that she made atleast 6 if them to give as presents for her friends, so in the end I ended up making them too.

 

And I must admit I am so glad that I ended up making them as this is the best challah I have ever made and I must say I have tried few recipes in the last years and to be honest I will not be changing into any other recipe, this is going to be the recipe I will be using always.

The bread is so so soft that if I could I would eat half in a go.

This is the best Challah I have made and the recipe I got from The Kitch here

You should go and check there, the recipe is so clear and I loved the step  by step pictures which is elaboratley done.

 

 





Ingredients

2 teaspoons active dry or instant yeast

1 cup (8 ounces) lukewarm water

4 - 4 1/2 cups (20 - 22 ounces) all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (1 3/4 ounces) white granulated sugar

2 teaspoons salt

2 large eggs

1 large egg yolk (reserve the white for the egg wash)

1/4 cup (2 ounces) neutral-flavored vegetable oil

Instructions

 Sprinkle the yeast over the water in a small bowl, and add a healthy pinch of sugar. Stir to dissolve the yeast and let stand until you see a thin frothy layer across the top. This means that the yeast is active and ready to use. (If you do not see this or if your yeast won't dissolve, it has likely expired and you'll need to purchase new yeast.)

 

Whisk together 4 cups of the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer (or in a large mixing bowl if kneading by hand).

 Make a well in the center of the flour and add the eggs, egg yolk, and oil. Whisk these together to form a slurry, pulling in a little flour from the sides of the bowl.

 Pour the yeast mixture over the egg slurry. Mix the yeast, eggs, and flour with a long-handled spoon until you form a shaggy dough that is difficult to mix.

With a dough hook attachment, knead the dough on low speed for 6-8 minutes. (Alternatively, turn out the dough onto a floured work surface and knead by hand for about 10 minutes.) If the dough seems very sticky, add flour a teaspoon at a time until it feels tacky, but no longer like bubblegum. The dough has finished kneading when it is soft, smooth, and holds a ball-shape.

 Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place somewhere warm. Let the dough rise until doubled in bulk, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

 Separate the dough into three or six equal pieces, depending on the type of braid you'd like to do. Roll each piece of dough into a long rope roughly 1-inch thick and 16 inches long. If the ropes shrink as you try to roll them, let them rest for 5 minutes to relax the gluten and then try again.

Gather the ropes and squeeze them together at the very top.

If making a 6-stranded challah, the directions are as she has mentioned in her place , there is step by step pics how to do it

Line a baking sheet with parchment and lift the loaf on top. Sprinkle the loaf with a little flour and drape it with a clean dishcloth. Place the pan somewhere warm and away from drafts and let it rise until puffed and pillowy, about an hour.

 About 20 minutes before baking, heat the oven to 350°F. When ready to bake, whisk the reserved egg white with a tablespoon of water and brush it all over the challah. Be sure to get in the cracks and down the sides of the loaf.

Slide the challah on its baking sheet into the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through cooking

Let the challah cool on a cooling rack until just barely warm. Slice and eat.

Sending this DELICIOUS Challah to Yeastspotting